S E P T E M B E R - O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 2 9

Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence - FIU

Newsletter

The Miami-Florida European Union Center for Excellence (MEUCE) is preparing for another academic year filled with diverse programming. The highlights of the 2014-2015 calendar will include events which will commemorate the centennial of the start of World War I, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the 10th anniversary of the East-ern enlargement to the European Union. The calendar will be filled with film activities to remem-ber these crucial events in EU and global histo-ry. The center is allowed to continue its program-ming due to the renewal of its grant by the European Union Del-egation to the United States in Washington D.C. and the European Commission in Brussels. The co-director of the center, Dr. Rebecca Friedman, expressed her excitement over the con-tinuation of the center’s funding. “We are very excited and look forward to continuing to collaborate with our colleagues in other centers across the country. We also look forward to collaborating with other units in FIU.” The center will host a series of films, panel discussions and lectures which will serve to engage the community in remem-bering WWI. One such event, a faculty discussion panel happening on October 9th, will feature faculty from the FIU histo-ry department as well as the Wolfsonian Museum. Similarly, the center will also be hosting various events to which will mark

the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall such as a lecture by the Hon. Jürgen Borsch, the Consul General of Germany, and a video conference with the University of Pittsburgh. The global impact of these events has fueled the need to provide the community with opportunities to reflect on and discuss

the past. “All of the anni-versaries we’re commem-orating really have global reach and global impact. Many scholars have said how WWI had tremen-dous impact not only on European political cul-ture, but international re-lations around the world,” said Friedman. Likewise, events of this nature also serve to fur-ther the center’s mission of promoting teaching, research, and outreach activities relating to the EU. This year’s calendar demonstrates the cen-ter’s continuing commit-ment to it’s mission state-ment and the intercon-

nections present in its programming. “We work extensively with the community, on a variety of levels. We reach out to high schools, we reach out to the business community, in addition to the academic community. We really fulfill all aspects of our mission and they usually end up over-lapping in many of our events. We will of-ten have students come to a community outreach events and we often have mem-bers of the community attending academic events.”

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E

Welcome from Dr. Friedman ….….1

Summer Book Tour with Dr. Roy …….….2

EU Teacher Work-shop in Boca Raton..3

Faculty Research, Faculty Curriculum Development Grants………….…..4-7

Study Abroad in Europe .................8-11

Study Abroad Student Testimonials….…..12

6th Annual Journalism Breakfast Seminar

………………..….13-14

Wolfsonian WWI Exhibition….……....15

TTIP Special Edition ..………………....16-18

Fall Activities….19-20

Announcements….21

- CREF 2014 Forum - BILAT Workshop Atlanta

- Euro Challenge Competition 2015

………………………….22

Contact Information..22

Commemorations and Future Plans:

MEUCE 2014-2015

By Isabel Brador

miamieuc.fiu.edu

From left to right: Christine I. Caly-Sanchez, Dr. Rebecca Friedman, Dr. Joaquín Roy

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Summer 2014: TTIP Book Presentation with

MEUCE Co-director Dr. Joaquín Roy

Dr. Joaquín Roy, the Jean Monnet Professor “ad personam” at the Uni-versity of Miami and co-director of the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence (MEUCE) had an active summer both abroad and within the U.S. The summer activi-ties centered around Roy’s latest project, a book on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The book, which was edited by Roy and his colleague Roberto Dominguez, focuses on the recent trade agreement between the EU and the U.S. In addition to editing the book, Roy also contributed to the studies found within. Roy spent the summer on a book tour which began at the Latin Ameri-can Studies Association’s annual conference in Chicago. The book, The TTIP: The Trans-atlantic Trade and Investment Part-nership between the European Un-ion and the United States, is compi-lation of the writings of various au-thors on the issues and history sur-rounding the TTIP.

The book presentations required that Roy also travel abroad. This summer’s destinations included Bu-charest, Romania, where he pre-sented at the International Academic Summit-Conference on EU-Latin America, Mexico where he present-ed at a seminar in El Collegio de Mexico, and various cities in Spain.

These cities included Madrid, where he presented at the seminar “Fundacion Alternativas” as well as a seminar at the Secretaria General

Iberoamericana. While in Spain, he was also afforded the opportunity to speak at seminars in Barcelona, in-cluding the Delegation of the Euro-pean Union as well as the Funda-cion Catalunya- Europa Barcelona Bar Association and the Collegio de Economistas where he spoke with vice-president Xavier Ferrer.

The importance of the trade agree-ment is stressed in the preface of the book written by Antonio De Lecea, from the delegation of the European Union. “The economic relationship between the EU and the US is the largest in the world. We are the world’s largest importers, making up just under a third of the total. In 2010, bilateral trade in goods alone was worth $546 billion.”

The intent of the book can be sum-marized as such by the introduction to the collection written by Roy. “ The collection of studies explores the expectations of an ambitious new deal between the United States and the European Union, packaged un-der the overall title of the Transat-lantic Trade and Investment Partner-ship, to be known in short by the catchy acronym of TTIP.”

In addition to this collaborative effort, Dr. Roy has published over 200 academic articles and reviews, and he is the author, editor, or co-editor of 25 books on various topics which focus on Latin America as well as the European Union.

Dr. Roy posing during his tour in Mexico

Hector Casanueva, Academic Vice-President, Univer-sidad Pedro de Valdidia, Santiago, Chile, and Director of CELARE

By Isabel Brador

For a free copy of Roy’s book visit: http://www.as.miami.edu/media/college-of-arts-and-sciences/content-assets/euc/docs/books/TTIP.pdf

Dr. Joaquín Roy, MEUCE, co-director and Jean Monnet Professor , posing in Chicago, Illinois

Dr. Joaquin Roy during his travels through Romania

The Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence (MEUCE) en-gages in a broad range of outreach activities designed to teach about the European Union and to communicate its policies. As part of this outreach, MEUCE conducts an annual work-shop for secondary school teachers in Florida, which presents an overview of the European Union and ad-dresses issues affecting Europe and EU-US relations. Last year’s work-shop held at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida set the bar high, but this year’s workshop was just as successful. This year’s work-shop “Understanding and Teaching the European Union: Hemispheric, Transatlantic and Global Perspec-tives”, was held on August 14, 2014 at the Spanish Community High School in Boca Raton, Florida. It served as an opportunity to engage with local edu-cators. According to FIU-MEUCE As-sociate Director Christine I. Caly-Sanchez, the FIU MEUCE has been hosting this seminar for 9 years. “This year we had 25 high school teachers who participated. We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Aimee Kanner,

Associate Professor and Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Florida Atlantic University, and Catherine Meschievitz Director, Office of International Pro-gram, FAU, for organizing this event” The workshop was as lively and engaging as ever, as educators were given a broad range of information on topics related on the European Union. The session included a lively discus-sion led by Dr. Aimee Kanner of FAU’s Associate Professor and Chair Political Science Department on “The EU: How does the European Union Work?” “The Institutions & Major Poli-cies of the EU”. She also advised these educators on “strategies on how to teach the European Union, and the best teaching practices”. Christine I. Caly-Sanchez, MEUCE Associate Director, made a presenta-tion on the EU Resources on the Web, as well as the Euro Challenge Competition. The material presented in this workshop provided educators with an extensive overview of political, economic, and historical background on the European Union. When these educators return to their classrooms, this background knowledge should be

instrumental in allowing the successful transmission of up to date educational material to their pupils. Each educator was also provided with a packet of materials to bring back to their class-rooms as a means of facilitating stu-dent learning.

For more information on these series of workshops please see : https://miamieuc.fiu.edu/outreach/teacher-workshops/

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Boca Raton Workshop Helps Teachers

Teach the European Union

Dr. Aimee Kanner, Associate Professor and Chair, Dept. of Political Science, Florida Atlantic University Dr. Aimee Kanner, and Dr. Catherine Meschievitz, FAU

Dr. Aimee Kanner, FAU Christine I. Caly-Sanchez , MEIUCE, FIU

By Christine I. Caly-Sanchez

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MEUCE Curriculum Development and

Faculty Research Grants

2014 Faculty Curriculum Development Grant Awardee: Dr. Mark Tunick, FAU

Dr. Mark Tu-nick, a profes-sor of political science and the Associate Dean of the Honors College at Flori-da Atlantic Uni-versity, was the recipient of the Miami-Florida European Un-ion Center for

Excellence’s (MEUCE) Faculty Curric-ulum Development Grant. Tunick’s passion for political theory, teaching and writing can be traced to his high school involvement in competitive de-bate, which mirrored an interest he had in discussing ethical and social issues. Upon discovering political the-ory in college, he knew the discipline was something he wanted to devote himself to. As a political theorist, Tunick has published various articles and book chapters on the issue of privacy in which he makes use of cases in the U.S. U.K. and E.U. With the grant Tu-nick will be able to develop a course which will compare privacy law in the U.S. and the European Union. In a recent email interview, MEUCE had the opportunity to ask Tunick a few questions concerning the course he will be developing.

MEUCE: What do you hope stu-dents will gain by attending the course you are developing?

Tunick: “In addition to an understand-ing of why privacy should be valued, as well as its costs in terms of limiting our access to information, I want my students to gain an appreciation of how attitudes about privacy and free-dom of speech differ in Europe. I also want them to gain an understanding of the European Union’s legal system and methods for protecting human rights and how, at a very general level, its legal system compares to the Unit-ed States.”

MEUCE: How did the idea for the course develop?

Tunick: “In preparing a book that is being published this September by Routledge, called “Balancing Privacy and Free Speech: Unwanted Attention in the Age of Social Media,” I had origi-nally focused on privacy in the U.S. But as I learned more about some im-portant developments in Europe, in-cluding cases in England concerning newspapers publishing embarrassing photos and videos involving public figures such as Naomi Campbell and Max Mosley, and cases in Spain and elsewhere in which people filed com-plaints against Google because its search engine made it difficult for them to put an embarrassing fact about their past behind them, I decided to take a comparative approach. I read numer-ous cases decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as well as cases from the U.K., Germany, and elsewhere as well as a substantial body of research by scholars in Eu-rope.”

MEUCE: Why do you think the fo-cus of your course has specific in-terest for students in the U.S.?

Tunick: “Privacy is a very hot topic and with smartphones and technology such as Google Glass so pervasive, almost all of us are exposed to threats to privacy when we go outside or share information online. This is so for students in the U.S. as well as stu-dents abroad. Students here tend to know very little about law in other countries, and will be surprised to see how in Europe attitudes toward privacy and free speech can be strikingly dif-ferent, and this may get them to question some of their own assump-tions.”

MEUCE: How do you think this course will contribute to the study of political science at FAU?

Tunick: “The course will be interdisci-plinary, drawing not only on law and political science but some economics, philosophy, history, literature and film, and so it is designed not just for ma-jors in political science or our ‘Law and Society’ concentration but for anyone. It will give our political science and law and society students at the Honors College access to cases from coun-tries other than the U.S., which may be their only such exposure; and it should be helpful to our many students con-centrating in international studies who may not take another law-related courses.”

By Isabel Brador

Dr. Mark Tunick Florida Atlantic University

Each year, FIU-MEUCE hosts an annual competition that awards research and curriculum development grants to prospective facul-

ty of FIU and its partner institutions: University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, University of North Florida, and Florida

Atlantic University. Award recipients are provided with financial support for travel, research/archival work, implementation of new curric-

ulum, and other associated costs. These grants are designed to stimulate new research on the European Union (EU) and the role it

plays in global affairs. This year’s winners of the faculty research grant were Dr. Mark Tunick of Florida Atlantic University, Dr.

Jean Rahier of Florida International University, Dr. Joanna Mishtal, and Kerstin Hamann, of University of Central Florida.

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MEUCE Curriculum Development and

Faculty Research Grants (Cont’d).

Dr. Joanna Mishtal is one of the recipients of the Miami-Florida European Union Center for Excel-lence’s (MEUCE) Faculty Research Grant. While set-tling in the U.S., Mishtal became interested in the

politics of healthcare, especially repro-ductive health. She began to draw comparisons to the system in place in the U.S. and in her native Poland. The questions which emerged from her comparisons formed the basis of her doctoral work in anthropology. With the grant money, Mishtal researched the regulation of Assisted Reproduc-tive Technologies (ART) throughout the European Union. In a recent email interview, MEUCE had the opportunity to ask Mishtal a few questions about her research.

MEUCE: How did you get the idea for your research question?

Mishtal: “For the new 2014 research project, funded by the EUCE, I wanted to better understand what are the main barriers and potential strategies to harmonizing ART regulation across the EU, from the perspective of key European public health stakeholders. To offer a bit of background about what is happening there: The use of infertility healthcare—known as Assist-ed Reproductive Technologies (ART)—in the EU has grown dramatically in the last 20 years, and is expected to rise further. This is mainly due to the fact that we have seen a steady fertility decline in Europe, i.e., women and couples are having fewer and fewer children. At the same time, people are postponing having a child until they are in their late 30s or 40s, which can lead to what is known as age-related

infertility. This, of course, can (thought only in about 30% of cases) be reme-died by infertility treatments or ARTs. ARTs now offer a wide range of possi-bilities but not without cost—these procedures involve incredible amount of physical, psychological and financial strain and hardship. They can also be unsafe as recent studies are starting to show and might be associated with an increase in, for example, certain type of hormone-related cancers in women who have been exposed to ARTs… In 2004, the EU released The Tissues and Cells Directive to harmonize regu-lation, requiring nations to control har-vesting and storage of human tissues, and declaring ART oversight as neces-sary to protect public health through improved safety of clinical standards across states...A Europe-wide study shows that the less expensive and unrestricted ART services offered in Eastern Europe attract growing “infertility tourism” especially from the UK, Germany, and Italy...This issue is even more pressing with the 2013 Cross-Border Health Directive, which allows EU citizens to seek healthcare in other states and have costs reim-bursed by their home nations. My project this summer examined how the European Society of Human Re-production and Embryology, one of the largest reproductive health organiza-tion in Europe, and European Society for Contraception and Reproductive Health, one of the key public health organization in the EU focusing specif-ically on reproductive health, is dealing with the growing ARTs tourism and the lack of regulation in many of the mem-ber states.”

MEUCE: How do you hope your re-search will contribute to the field of public health?

Mishtal: “There is certainly a great need to understand the barriers and potential strategies available to the

public health community and EU policy-makers to harmonize ART regulation and to ensure the quality and safety of private sector care. My preliminary results show that this issue is indeed of great concern in the EU health com-munity, but the key actors, such as the ESHRE and ESC organizations, are not always empowered to dictate or monitor whether any ethical guidelines are in fact followed in nations like Po-land where no regulation exists. Nev-ertheless, my findings show that there are growing efforts at the level of the medical community to open a debate about how regulation can be promot-ed, in particular through an entry point of voluntary reporting from the unregu-

2014 Faculty Research Grant Awardee: Dr. Joanna Mishtal, UCF

Dr. Joanna Mishtal University of Central Florida

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MEUCE Curriculum Development and

Faculty Research Grants (Cont’d)

lated clinics in Eastern Europe. This is a challenging and complicated task, but my work this summer also reveals that the local non-governmental organizations might offer an excellent leverage element at the local level, because of their growing role as patient educators. Educating ARTs patients about best practices and ethics in ART proce-dures might be an effective way of forcing ‘ethics and regu-lation from below.’” MEUCE: What are your future plans for your re-search?

Mishtal: “I hope to continue this important research project and expand it to include the regulatory efforts taking place directly in the EU institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. This issue of unregulated ARTs and the questions and concerns it poses for the EU policies is one that will only grow in urgency and relevance, as the EU debates are already showing.”

2014 Faculty Research Grant Awardee: Dr. Joanna Mishtal, (cont’d)

By Isabel Brador

2014 Faculty Research Grant Awardee: Dr. Kerstin Hamann, UCF

Dr. Kerstin Hamann, a profes-sor of political sci-ence and the chair of the department at the University of Central Florida, was one of the recipients of the Miami-Florida European Union Center for Excel-lence’s (MEUCE) Faculty Research

Grant. Hamman, originally an ex-change student from Germany, devel-oped a passion for political science during her time at Washington Univer-sity in Saint Louis. As part of her coursework for a Master’s degree in Western European Studies, she en-rolled in various political science courses which sparked her interest. Upon completion of her Master’s de-gree she applied for a Ph.D. in Politi-cal Science at Washington University and was accepted into the program.

Currently, Hamann plans to use the grant to continue her research on the recent financial crises in the EU, espe-cially the policy-making process and the electoral consequences of austeri-ty reforms. In a recent email interview, MEUCE was able to ask her a few questions pertaining to her research.

MEUCE: What first sparked your interest in the EU austerity budgets and union strikes ?

Hamann: “My previous work analyzed the causes and consequences of un-ion inclusion in policy reforms in West-ern Europe. I was very interested in finding out whether the austerity crisis changed patterns of union inclusion or exclusion, and whether union changed the way they interacted with the gov-ernment.”

MEUCE: How do you hope your research will contribute to the field of political science?

Hamann: “I will present a paper on this topic at a conference in Madrid in

November, and I plan to submit it to an academic journal once it has been revised. Substantively, the research will help us understand better what the determinants and conditions are that influence policy making in Western Europe.”

MEUCE: Why do you think it is im-portant to study international poli-tics, and more specifically the cur-rent crises in the EU?

Hamann: “The austerity crisis has profoundly affected national econo-mies in the EU, but it has also affected how political actors behave in these countries. Which groups are included or excluded in policy making is a question that is closely related to the quality and nature of democracy. How do political actors react when they are excluded from policy-making process-es? And how do governments react to widespread mass protests? These are questions that are fundamentally im-portant for studying democratic pro-cesses.”

Dr. Kerstin Hamann University of Central

By Isabel Brador

For more information on the grants, visit our website: https://miamieuc.fiu.edu/grants-opportunities/faculty-grants/

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MEUCE Curriculum Development and

Faculty Research Grants (Cont’d)

2014 Faculty Research Grant Awardee: Dr. Jean Rahier, FIU

Dr. Jean Rahier, a professor of anthropology and the Director of the African & African Diaspora Studies Program, Florida Interna-tional University, is one of the re-cipients of the Miami European Union Center of

Excellence’s (MEUCE) Faculty Re-search Grant.

Rahier’s interest in anthropology was a product of his political activism in his native Belgium. He began reading books about politics and discovered that he was quite interested in the top-ics discussed in the books. He decided to enroll in the social sciences upon entering the university in Belgium, and discovered anthropology. He recalls being fascinated by the work of profes-sional anthropologists. His current work focuses on the intersections of sex, race and power in the Belgian Congo, or rather the colonial past of the Democratic Republic of Congo.. In a recent interview, MEUCE was able to sit down with Rahier and discuss his research interests as well as his work. MEUCE: Why do you think it is im-portant for scholars to study coloni-al pasts and decolonization?

Rahier: “The answer to why many things are taking place in contempo-rary societies can be found in previ-ous moments in time. In the case of former colonized countries, you cannot fully understand the contemporary realities without understanding their pasts. At the same time, although gen-erally no reference to European coloni-al past is explicitly made when Euro-pean politicians deal with, imagine or

define European identity, the Europe-an colonial pasts very much inform the imagination of the European identi-ty.....Contemporary European identity is very much informed by Europe’s colonialism and imperialism. This is where we see the birth of European identity. Very often the European iden-tity will take shape outside of Europe. That is when Europeans felt the need to identify these identities.” MEUCE: What do you hope your work will contribute to the field of anthropology?

Rahier: “What I’m hoping is to get my colleagues, Africanist scholars who are working on the colonial period, to understand the importance of personal perspectives. I’m approaching history as an anthropologist, therefore I am paying attention to things that a tradi-tional historian may not be. Rather than looking at wars, revolts and his-torical facts and processes, like the most traditionalist of historians, I am looking at feelings, emotions and things of this sort. I am looking at dia-ries and their personal papers to look at what’s happening behind the scenes. I hope colleagues get a sense of how important the analysis of sexual behaviors is if we want to un-derstand colonial behavior.” MEUCE: There are various Europe-an countries with colonial pasts, why choose Belgium?

Rahier: “I was born in the Congo from a Congolese mother and a Belgium Father. So my father was colonial and my mother a colonized woman. That’s the reason I am interested in this, in a way it’s my story. I have further ex-plored this in my self-ethnography ti-tled, “Metis/Mulatre, Mulato, Mulatto, Negro, Moreno, Mundele, Kaki, Black,...”

MEUCE: What are your future plans for the research you are conduct-ing?

Rahier: “I have a book project in the making, which focuses on the intersec-tion of race, sex and power in Europe-an colonies. I have already put togeth-er some of the chapters and in fact published some short drafts of these chapters. One is on Belgian colonial literature and in these books, which are mostly written by white males due to the fact that women did not partici-pate in the colonial power structure in the same way, one of the dominant themes are colonial men’s encounters with Congolese women. Another chap-ter ,for example, focuses on agents of Leopold II, the Belgian king who gave the Congo to Belgium.” What sets the book aside from oth-er books on colonization?

Rahier: “The book will be based on

the consultation of various archives in

Belgium, but also on conversations

I’ve had with my father, before he died,

my grandfather, my grandmother and

my mother and a number of other

Congolese women in order to talk

about their experience. This is be-

cause usually in the archives the voic-

es of the colonized people are not usu-

ally heard. If you do find one, because

there are always exceptions, it is usu-

ally a male voice… So therefore you

need to get access to these voices

using other means than just focusing

on the archives. This is why it is a ne-

cessity to bring in these conversations,

because some of these women, like

my mother, are still alive.”

By Isabel Brador

Dr. Jean Rahier Florida International Univ.

Multilevel in Governance in Europe Study Abroad Program 2014

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The Multilevel

Governance in

Europe program

offers students

the opportunity

not only to learn

about the vary-

ing levels of

government in

the European

Union, but also

to experience

the political processes that take place

within the walls of these institutions.

The program begins with a two-week

course at FIU, which covers the politi-

cal intricacies of the European Union.

Over the course of these two weeks,

in anticipation of the European part of

their summer studies, students learn

about the international, national and

state levels of government in the EU.

“The theory course was important to

give the students theoretical

knowledge about the European Un-

ion… In the two weeks they really

learned about each individual institu-

tion and each of the institutions that

we would visit. So that when they visit

these institutions and are told how

great these institutions are, they can

actually ask critical questions about

the organizations’ workings and gauge

their level of success. I also wanted

them to have more time to see first

hand the places that we study, rather

than sit in a classroom and be lec-

tured to,“ said Dr. Markus Thiel, the

Director of Undergraduate Studies in

the Department of Politics and Inter-

national Relations.

Thiel not only teaches the two-week

course on political theory, but he also

personally leads the students as they

travel to the various governmental

agencies. The summer 2014 trip be-

gan in Vienna, where students were

able to tour one of the offices of the

United Nations. Throughout the fol-

lowing weeks, students visited Mu-

nich, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and

Brussels. These cities enabled stu-

dents to tour the Bavarian State Par-

liament, the European Court of Hu-

man Rights, the European Court of

Justice and various other international

organizations. Throughout the trip,

students were also given free days to

tour the cities; they also had the op-

tion to take side-trips to historical sites

such as the Schönnbrunn Castle and

the concentration camp at Dachau.

Participation in the program not only

imparted students with knowledge of

the legislative policies of the European

Union, but also allowed students to

begin to understand how complex

member-nation relations within the EU

had become. This set of up-close ex-

periences and unique perspectives is

something that not all study abroad

courses can offer.

“What I hope, aside from a lot of

knowledge about how international

organizations function, is that the stu-

dents obtain a better understanding

of how dense and complex state rela-

tions have become in Europe…. Each

of these countries have a different

history, a different culture and a differ-

ent language yet they are really coop-

erating very closely together in the

European Union, ” Thiel said.

Another unique aspect of the program

is that it allows students to have ac-

cess to various international governing

bodies, usually unavailable to regular

tourists. “They will never have the

opportunity to gain access to so many

institutions. For example at the OSE

we were sitting right in a ministerial

meeting. As regular visitors we would

have never been able to see that.”

By Isabel Brador

Dr. Markus Thiel Director of the Program, Multi-

level Governance in Europe, FIU

Visit of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France

Multilevel Governance in Europe

Dates │ Summer A 2014

On Campus: May 12-26, 2014

Abroad: May 28—June 14, 2014

Austria: Vienna (4 days/nights)

Germany: Munich (3 days/nights)

France: Strasbourg (3 days/nights)

Luxembourg (2 days/nights)

Belgium: Brussels (6 days/nights)

including a mix of historical excursions and institutional visits

Courses

CPO 3104 European Union Politics

INR 3214 International Relations of

Europe

For more information on the program,

visit the following page: h t t p s : / /

u g r a d . f i u . e d u / s t u d y a b r o a d / P a g e s /

MultilevelGovernanceEurope.aspx

Schönnbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria

By Isabel Brador

Cultural Communication Patterns of Europe Study Abroad Program 2014

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“The Cultural

Communica-tion Patterns of Europe” study abroad pro-gram give stu-dents the op-portunity to learn how dif-ferent cultures communicate and how cul-tural identity

informs methods of communication. The program, which has been offered for two consecutive summers, chal-lenges students to understand the concept of identity and communica-tion.

“What we do in the class is to try and grasp the idea of a European identity and figure out if it does exist. How are people within Europe able to communicate with one another? So how are the various ways that these places differ in terms of their cultural background, cultural dynamics and cultural expectations hinder or facili-tate communication?” said Mr. Jose Rodriguez, a professor of communi-cation and the Assistant Dean of the Honors College at FIU. Rather than focus on the whole of Europe, the program focuses on three countries: France, Germany and Belgium.

“The reason I chose those three is because the history of continental Europe is primarily written by France and Germany, especially in the last 150 years. They’re also have the two largest economies within the Europe-an Union, and each has a very inter-esting past and present…The reason Belgium is included is because it’s such a unique and weird place. It’s an amalgamation of two separate countries Wallonia and Flanders and they speak French and Flemish. It’s interesting to see how this bi-cultural identity has evolved or devolved and how it plays out for everyday people on the street,” said Rodriguez. The inspiration for the program came out of Rodriguez’s own experience abroad as well as his experience in the classroom.

“I was the chaperone on Dr. Bailly’s trip, and I was approached by the cultural communications department about doing my own study abroad. I wanted to include France, but could-n’t just do France, especially since Dr. Bailly’s includes France so I thought about other places which would contribute to the programs curriculum” said Rodriguez.

The inspiration for the program was EU driven, but more from the per-spective of identity and culture than from governments, which is the focus of Dr. Thiel’s program.

“If anything our programs comple-ment each other, because I’m looking at it from the cultural everyday per-spective. The program is more of a flavor of the EU, than the structure,” said Rodriguez.

The trip culminates with the students making a pseudo-documentary of their trip. While working in groups the students make a short video which include street interviews with locals, clips of one another, and clips of themselves in order to better explain to their peers what they learned about various cultures and them-selves.

The program underlines an overarch-ing theme present in all study abroad programs, and that is how time abroad is imperative to the education of all students regardless of their majors.

“ You cannot read a book, or watch a movie and just talk about other cul-tures, you need to experience other cultures,” said Rodriguez.

By Isabel Brador

Cultural Communication Pattern of Europe: France—Germany—Belgium

Dates │ Summer A 2014 │Abroad: May 3—31, 2014

Course: COM 4731 Cultural Communication Patterns of Europe

For more information on the programs visit: https://ugrad.fiu.edu/studyabroad/Pages/Communication-in-Europe.aspx

Dr. Jose Rodriguez Assistant Dean

Honors College, FIU

Honors France and Italy Grand Tour: Redux Study Abroad 2014

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The study abroad pro-gram “Italy Grand Tour: Redux” is a recreation of the original Grand Tour of Europe. The tour was seen as the final chapter in the educa-tion of wealthy,

white males in both the United States and in Europe. The study abroad program is called “Redux” because the program caters to the Honors Col-lege at FIU which is mainly made up of Hispanic, non-wealthy, females. It is also important to note that while the original Grand Tour involved embrac-ing European cultures as roots, the Redux program focuses on critically examining these influences and en-gaging in a dialogue to find the indi-vidual meaning of these influences for each student. The program, which is led by Dr. Bailly, begins in Rome and Pompeii where the students examine the Ro-man and Catholic histories of Italy. Among the many Italian cities visited by the participants is Cinque Terre where an integral part of the Grand Tour takes place. “There’s a trail that links the five villages. If you do the entire hike it’s about an eight hour hike. The trail itself is a UNESCO world heritage site. Part of every grand tour was dis-covering the Italian nature and coun-tryside. It was seen as a time of re-flection. You’re absorbing so much information, in many ways it’s com-pletely overwhelming. The trail is part of our reflection time. We go into this sanctuary where there is absolutely

nothing and it’s a time for the students to reflect on the three weeks that have come before and on themselves. Also, to think about questions such as ‘What is my life? What is my life about?” The program then ends in Venice, which Bailly points out as having simi-larities to Miami. “Because it was al-ways was trading and came in contact with other cultures and other coun-tries. Also, the first Jewish ghetto was in Venice so you have all these differ-ent people interacting around a com-mon concept of trade. Their govern-ment system and dodge were very different from other monarchies and more similar to our current system.” Bailly also leads another program called “Art, War and Human Rights” which focuses on France and the his-tory of the pursuit and struggle for universal human rights. Chronologi-cally, the program focuses on the Twin Revolutions and World War II. The program also affords students to meet with two Holocaust survivors as well as WWII French Resistance fight-ers. The program begins in Paris, but they also go to the Alps, Lyon, and Normandy. The ultimate aim in the program is to discuss the paradoxes present in the histories of both the U.S. and France. “No two countries, in my limited knowledge of history, have had such great aspirations for humans rights, but they also have some of the most stunning failures… How can that exist within the two countries and do those similar failings and contradiction exist within us? We have to be aware that that is something that is never behind us,” said Bailly The programs, which are offered solely for Honors students, attract students from a variety of academic backgrounds .“We get everything from history to chemistry to psychology. It’s

just an incredible diversity which makes our conversations as a group that much more interesting because the perspectives that come in are really amazing”, said Bailly. In reference to the importance of be-ing abroad, Bailly stressed how study-ing abroad expands a student’s knowledge base. “The way that we learn is by absorbing things around us and processing them. If you are lim-ited in what’s around you then unfortu-nately your perspective is going to be limited... Our assumption is that we do things a certain way and it works for us so that must be the best way to do them . Then when you go abroad and you stay there for awhile you are go-ing to find something that they do bet-ter than you. That little opening leads to an appreciation and understanding that alternative perspectives are en-riching rather than challenging in a confrontational way,” said Bailly.

Baily also commented on the

potential for growth which a study

abroad program facilitates. “People in

my experience believe they have cer-

tain limitations. Then they are put in a

situation, often on study abroad,

where their limitations are pushed and

they blow through them and they do

so much more than they thought they

could have done.”

By Isabel Brador

Dr. John Bailly Director of the Honors Pro-

grams in France and Italy, FIU

Study Abroad in Genoa, Italy 2014: Studies in History, Sociology and European Studies

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The Genoa study abroad program in sociology, history and European stud-ies is a six-week, 9-credit, residential experience in Genoa, Italy. Students take courses in History, Sociology and Italian language. The program is de-signed to give participants a comparative understating of social change in the U.S. and Italy during the last part of the 19th and first half of the 20th century and is struc-tured around that compara-tive exercise. Dr. Douglas Kincaid, the program’s coordinator, teaches the U.S. component of the course and then ac-companies the student co-hort to Italy. While in Genoa, program participants are taught similar subject matter to the U.S. lesson, but with an Italian focus. The pro-gram also collaborates with the Wolfsonian Museum and the Wolfsoniana Museum. The structure of the program is de-signed with sociology and history stu-dents in mind, but the program is open to students of all academic back-grounds as long as they are interested in historically approaching the analysis of society and social change. The uniqueness of the program stems from being the only program that has a sig-nificant historical component as part of the curriculum. It is also unique

because it is, “ a residential program. Students live in apartments in the medi-eval quarter in Genoa. It is an incredi-ble experience of a lifestyle that in this country we can only dream about. Es-sentially, you are a pedestrian in an

area that has been inhabited for hun-dreds, or even thousands of years. You walk everywhere, including to your classroom which is in a thousand year old convent on top of a hill,” as men-tioned by Kincaid. Additionally, the program focuses on giving students the opportunity to live in another society, whereas other study abroad programs focus more on travel-ing. “You are in this modern Italian en-vironment surrounded by Italians living out their daily lives, but you are also living in a historical area that is just an amazing location. Genoa was one of the most powerful cities in Italy 500 years ago. While this is no longer the case, that history has left its imprint everywhere. It’s not like a museum. The history is part of your everyday environment. You live it and you breathe it,” said Kincaid. The concept for the program stemmed from Kincaid’s desire to de-velop a study abroad program which

would incorporate the unique qualities of Genoa. “Unlike Florence, Venice or Rome, which is awash with tourists and students, especially during the summer, Genoa usually isn’t. Also, while these other cities are beautiful you won’t in-

teract with many Italians, ex-cept those who want to sell you something. I wanted stu-dents to really experience what it’s like to live and work in an-other society. This program is really similar to programs that have students spent the se-mester or year abroad, but in a much more feasible and afford-able time frame.” The coming summer will feature an added component to the curriculum since stu-dents will have the opportunity to visit a World Fair in Milan. “People get to go to World Fairs once or twice in their lives if they are lucky. We will be having a module on the history of World Fairs incorpo-

rated into our program so they have some appreciation of what this fair is all about,” said Kincaid. Concerning the importance of studying abroad Kincaid said the following, “ I am a great believer in global education and international education and that should be an integral part of every stu-dent’s educational experience because that’s the way the world works. It doesn’t matter what your field of exper-tise or major is, there is some aspect of what you’re going to be doing that will be enhanced by understanding global realities a bit better. Study abroad gives you, within a particular period of time, so much more quality to your interna-tional expectations…You learn some-thing about another culture you learn to appreciate your from a different per-

spective. ”

For more information on the program, please visit: http://europe.fiu.edu/study-abroad/study-in-genoa-summer-2014/

By Isabel Brador

Dania Collado, Elizabeth Jimenez, Jessica Castillo, Carla Franco, Claudia Uribe, Paola Paris, in Italy, Summer 2014

Jessica Castillo, Elizabeth Jimenez, Dania Collado, Paola Paris

Study Abroad Programs Student Testimonials 2014

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Stephanie Sepulveda, Honors France Study Abroad 2014

MEUCE: What did you initially expect from the program? How did the program meet or exceed these expectations?

Sepulveda: Professor Bailly did an excellent job at explaining what the trip would be like, and I went in thinking that it would be an amazing experi-ence, but it completely exceeded my

expectations. I still can't believe all the things we did in just a month. We soaked up so much culture, so much history, and we saw so many beautiful things!

MEUCE: Did you have a favorite part of the program? If so, what was it? Sepulveda: It's impossible for me to choose one part of the program. Every single day we saw something that was exciting and new like hiking up the Alps, having a picnic in front of the Eif-fel Tower on Bastille day, or speaking to Mr. Joseph Weismann, a survivor of the Holocaust. But if I really had to choose, I would say my favorite part was the people I met. By this I mean my professor and my classmates, who made every second fun and memora-ble. And by this I also mean the people of France, who taught us so much about their culture and who welcomed us everywhere we went, from Paris, to Lyon, Normandy, and the Alps.

MEUCE: Why do you think it's important to study abroad?

Sepulveda: “I think that studying abroad is important because getting out of our day to day routine in Miami and living differently for a month or a semester, gives you a new and broad-er perspective of life. Seeing new plac-es and learning on site makes the ma-terial more real and more understandable. It not only pro-vides a hands-on learning experience, but exposes you to different cultures and new ways of life.”

MEUCE: What would you tell other students who aren't sure if a study abroad program is for them? Sepulveda: “I would say that study abroad is for everyone! I would say to stop thinking about it so much and just do it! You will make amazing friends, meet new people, see new things, and learn so much. It's an experience that will give you a new perspective and truly change your life. Sure you'll annoy your family when you're still tell-ing stories of your trip two months after coming back home, but it's so worth it!”

Dania Collado, Genoa Study Abroad 2014

MEUCE: Why did you sign up for the program?

Collado: “I signed up for the program because it helps me towards this life goal I currently have which is to visit one country in each continent.” MEUCE: What did you initially ex-pect from the program? How did the program meet or exceed these expectations?

Collado: “I really didn't expect anything I wanted to be surprised and that's exactly what happened the city, beauti-ful, the people, beautiful but a bit snot-ty, and the food well lets just say I wont be eating pasta for a while.” MEUCE: What is your major? What did you learn which was most appli-cable to your field of study?

Collado: “I am an International Busi-ness Major with a minor in Political Science. These courses really had

nothing to do with my major, I was interested in learning Italian since I wish to be multilingual. I grew up with English and Spanish, took French in high school, last year learned Mandarin in China, and this year Italian in Italy.” MEUCE: Why do you think it's im-portant to study abroad?

Collado: “The world is too big to be stuck in the same small circle your whole life branching out to other circles, triangles, leads to your growth in the world not just your field.” MEUCE: What would you tell other students who aren't sure if a study abroad program is for them?

Collado: “Go for it, even if your cring-ing at the cost its worth every penny.” MEUCE: What was one thing you experienced while traveling that re-ally surprised you?

Collado: “Just seeing others live life a completely different way or out of the norm we are used to has to be the most eye opening experience ever.”

Stephanie Sepulveda Honors France Study Abroad 2014

Claudia Uribe, Paola Paris, Jessica Castillo, Carla Franco, Dania Collado, Elizabeth Jimenez,

in Italy, Summer 2014

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The European Union Center for excel-lence held its 6th annual journalism breakfast seminar at the Coral Gables Country Club on August 28th.The seminar usually focuses on the ways Latin American journalists report and contextualize topics related to the Eu-ropean Union. It’s also one of the many ways the center reaches out to the Latin American community. This year’s seminar was organized by Dr. Leonardo Ferreira, a World’s Ahead scholar in International Communica-tion and the Director of International Programs at FIU’s School of Journal-ism and Mass Communications. This focus of the seminar was on Latin-American media coverage of the Rus-sia- Ukraine crisis. Dr. Rebecca Friedman, the co-director of the center, opened the event by explaining the importance of examin-ing the conflict with Latin American eyes. “We at the EU center are very interested in the question of how the EU and its surrounding consulates are perceived around the globe… We are

always very interested in the EU rela-tionship to Latin America, because this relationship has always been central to how Latin America relates to the EU and its political structure of coopera-tion...also because what happens in Latin America and what happens in the EU affects one another and vice versa, we are all socially, economically and politically intertwined.” The seminar was moderated by Dr. David Parker, associate professor of

the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at FIU. Along with introducing the guest panelist, he also gave a brief overview of the U.S. jour-nalism industry as well as the general American perspective of the Russian-Ukraine conflict. His summary served as a point of reference for seminar attendees as they heard from the pan-el of Latin American journalists. The panelists were Sergio Gomez,

6th Annual Journalist-Breakfast Seminar: "Media Coverage

of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis - A View from the Americas"

Left to right: Orlando López Selva, Columnist of El Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua ; Dr. Leonardo Ferreira, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, FIU; Sergio Gómez, DC Correspondent of El Tiempo, Colombia; Dr. David Parker, Associate Professor of the School of Journalism and Mass Communica-tion, FIU

By Isabel Brador

Sergio Gómez, El Tiempo, Colombia

Orlando López-Selva, El Nuevo Diario

Orlando López-Selva, El Nuevo Diario, and Dr. Rebecca Friedman, MEUCE, FIU

6th Annual Journalist-Breakfast Seminar: "Media Coverage

of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis - A View from the Americas"

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For more information on the event, please

visit our website:

https://miamieuc.fiu.edu/

events/general/2014/meuce-journalists-

workshop-media-and-the-coverage-of-the-

ukraine-russian-crisis-fiu/

correspondent of El Tiempo, the larg-est news organization in Colum-bia, Orlando Lopez-Selva a columnist of the Nicaraguan paper El Nuevo Dia-rio. Both panelist spoke about the unique perspectives and challenges of covering the conflict in Latin America. Gomez discussed his view of how the Latin American market contextualized news coverage of the conflict. “I think the general view in Latin America is a little more sophisticated than “good vs. bad” “black and white” and that has a lot to do with the history of the region,” said Gomez. Later on in the discussion Gomez also discussed the unique challenge that the geographic distance between

Ukraine and Latin America posed to the issue of public interest. “I think specifically the case with Ukraine it has to do with the geographical dis-tance and the fact that the repercus-sions of the conflict aren’t as obvious in Latin America as they would be to a citizen in Germany who may be wor-ried about the fuel prices going up… It’s not that that there’s a lack of inter-est in the issue as a whole, but I do think there may be a lack of interest in getting down to the bottom of the issue and exploring the different complexi-ties that it has,” said Gomez.

Selva also touched on the unique per-spectives present in the U.S. as well

as in Latin America in regards to the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Yet, he also raised important questions which Latin American journalists are facing. “How to strike a balance in approaching the news that comes to us from North American and from western European sources of information? Who defines what is good or convenient when talk-ing about controversial issues? What are the limits of censorship? When we are reporting the news do we treat all the issues in the context of world poli-tics or in the context of a world of many cultures?” said Selva. The event closed with questions and comments from attendees as well as a thank you from Friedman.

Left to right: Sophie Delporte, Christine I. Caly-Sanchez, Steef Van den Berg, Hon. Adolfo Barattolo, Lyng Hou Ramirez, Dr. Leonardo Ferreira

Lyng Hou Ramirez, and Miguel Alvaro Sarmiento, Journalists

By Isabel Brador

Journalist-breakfast seminar “Media Coverage of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis– A view from the Americas”—08/28/2014

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“Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture”

Conversation with Dr. Jon Mogul

The upcoming exhibit “Myth and Ma-chine: The First World War in Visual Culture” will open at the Wolfsonian-FIU museum on Miami Beach, on No-vember 11th. The exhibit, which is in commemoration of the World War I centennial, opens on Armistice Day. The holiday coincides with Veteran’s Day and marks the signing of the ar-mistice between the Allies and Ger-many. During a recent email interview with Dr. Jon Mogul, the curator of the exhibit, the Miami European Union Center for Excellence had the oppor-tunity to ask Mogul questions concern-ing the focus and importance of the exhibition. MEUCE: What do you hope muse-um guests will take away from this exhibit? Mogul: “I think the exhibition is really about how people deal with traumatic events. The First World War was a cataclysm – it killed millions of people, left economies in ruin, destroyed em-pires, and produced hatreds that led to the Second World War. The art-works we are presenting show how artists, poster designers, and others who lived through the war tried to make sense of it. And it shows how they did that largely by leaving out the most horrific elements – there are dead people but not mutilated bodies, for example, in these images – and by mythologizing the war. So I hope peo-ple will understand these as normal human responses to overwhelming events, and maybe look a little differ-ently at images of war and conflict that surround them today. “ MEUCE: Why focus on the relation-ship between man and machine during the war? Mogul: “The degree of technological innovation in the First World War is astounding. Tanks were invented dur-ing the war, and it was the first time airplanes and submarines were used extensively in combat; the same was true for telephones, wireless radio, and motion pictures.. The outcome of the war depended heavily on the ca-pacity of the different sides to produce these machines and use them effec-tively. So how people are represented

in relationship to machines emerges as a key theme – are they shown as makers and masters of the machines, as victims, or left out of the picture entirely?” MEUCE: What are some of your favorite pieces in the exhibit? Mogul: “It’s hard to choose, because there are so many amazing and unu-sual things from the war in our collec-tion. One of the things that really caught my eye when I first saw it is a series of woodcut prints by a French artist named Maurice Busset, showing

the German bombardment of Paris in 1918. The colors are so vivid, the whole thing seems almost like a hallu-cination. Another is a print by a Ger-man artist, Eugen Osswald. It shows a soldier on horseback. He’s wearing a modern German army helmet, but he’s carrying a spear and has a halo around his head. The print is titled, “St. George—Messenger,” and it’s a great example of how artists mytholo-gized the war.’ MEUCE: Why it is important to com-memorate World War I? Mogul: “Simple: It’s one of the most important events in world history. It’s impossible to understand the modern world—for instance, the modern Mid-dle East—without understanding the war. And it killed millions and millions of people, and that loss has to be re-membered. ” MEUCE: What is unique about this exhibit when compared to previous exhibits which commemorate World War I? Mogul: “Part of what makes it unique is the material we’re showing. In what other museum’s exhibition are you

going to see photographs taken by Hungarian soldiers at the front, a painting in which Joan of Arc, Napole-on and General Lafayette appear out of the mist behind a French infantry-man, and a print showing death (with a pipe in his mouth) riding on a tank? But I think it’s also unique because of the approach that it takes, which I think is characteristic of The Wolfsoni-an in general, in that it’s not an “art exhibition” or a “propaganda exhibi-tion,” but instead looks at both togeth-er as expressions of particular cul-tures.” MEUCE: How did the idea for the exhibition develop? Mogul: “We knew there was a ton of material about the war in The Wolfsonian’s collection, and we knew the centennial of the beginning of the war was coming up this year, so it just seemed like a natural show for us to do.” MEUCE: Is the museum observing any other commemorations this year? Mogul: “We will have a whole series of programs that will commemorate the war, related to the exhibition. That

will include a film series, lectures, mu-sical performance, and other events also. Not all of this has been sched-uled yet, but it will be on our website soon.”

St. George-Meldereiter, Eugen Osswald

Sous les bombes, Maurice Busset

By Isabel Brador

For more information visit:

www.wolfsonian.org/explore/

exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions

On June 19th, the Miami-Florida European Union Cen-ter of Excellence was able to assist with another wonderful event promoting the benefits of the upcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Part-nership (TTIP) between the European Union and the Unit-ed States. This event, hosted by The Delegation of the Eu-ropean Union to the United States, and organized by the German American Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta, alongside various European consulates and chambers of commerce from Miami, was held at the scenic Bankers Club overlooking Biscayne Bay, and allowed local busi-nesspeople and visiting diplo-

mats to gain a better under-standing of TTIP.

Following a networking breakfast, the energetic at-tendees settled in to learn about this incredible trade partnership. Stefanie Jehlitschka, Vice President, German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States, Inc. welcomed the audience. The activities began with an introductory video from European Union Ambassador to the United States João Vale de Almeida, who informed attendees that the TTIP agreement had grand aspirations, stating that it was the “best illustration of how vibrant the relationship between the United States

and Europe. It’s about setting the gold standard for what we think the world economy should look like.”

Immediately following Am-bassador Vale de Almeida’s remarks, the day’s keynote speaker, Hiddo Houben, pre-sented a vibrant lecture to the audience. Hiddo Houben, as the Minister-Counselor and Head of the Trade and Agriculture Section of the European Delegation to the United States, was an in-credibly astute choice to pro-vide a lecture on this promis-ing, but incredibly complex agreement currently under negotiation. A 2003 Yale World Fellow and participating member in the creation of the World Trade Organization (W.T.O), Mr. Houben informed attendees that because the United States and Europe are “the two largest economies in the world” there exists “a per-ception of mutual benefit on both sides. That is not neces-sarily the case with trading relationships with other parts of the world.” The TTIP agree-ment would help to shore up and strengthen this relation-ship in an increasingly com-plex and competitive global-ized world. With the addition of China, Russia, and large parts of the developing world into the global economy, and with no large trade agree-ments between the U.S and

The Future of the EU-US Relations

What Benefits will the TTIP Bring?

From left to right, panelists and moderator:

Hiddo Houben, Stefanie Jehlitschka, Lake Ray, Christoph Niemann, Skip Jones

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This event was organized by the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern U.S.-Atlanta,

hosted by the Delegation of the European Union, and proudly supported by different European Cham-

bers of Commerce in Miami (Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain), European Consulates General in Miami (The

Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Spain), the Economic and Development and International

Trade in Miami, and the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence.

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for this agreement to go into effect. Mr. Houben informed the captivated guests in attend-ance that presently, there are over 200 negotiators working on each side of the partnership to provide expert insight and ensure that the TTIP agree-ment is a valuable and dynamic agreement. Despite some speedbumps due to regulatory differences between the United States and Europe in areas such as pharmaceuticals, in which intellectual property rights are a sensitive issues, Mr. Houben was confident the details would be ironed out. He concluded that “The TTIP are about lots of different small things that can add up to some-thing significant when it’s taken all together.”

Following Mr. Houben’s presentation on the benefits of the TTIP agreement, the floor was turned over to a panel for discussion. In addition to Mr. Houben, other participants in-

cluded Florida House of Repre-sentatives, District 12, Lake Ray, Skip Jones, the Executive Director for Europe and Eura-sia, Global Markets, U.S De-partment of Commerce, as well as Cristoph Niemann, Oceanfreight Manager, MIA-FS, Kuehne + Nagel Inc. This panel, moderated by Stefanie Jehlitschka, Vice President, German American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern United States, Inc., and com-posed from those in both the public and private sectors, pro-vided a great overview of the variety of issues that relate to the TTIP agreement. Repre-sentative Ray, a former Civil Engineer who is interested in increasing Florida’s manufac-turing economy indicated that this deal would be incredibly beneficial, continuing “we’re finding, as you know, that the EU wants products from the US, and the U.S wants prod-ucts from the E.U, because we

know the quality of these prod-ucts.” Mr. Niemen indicated that the concern over privacy rights is one issue that is some-what contentious, but that the concerns after the Snowden affair are quite overblown and that “Both sides are working together. There have been long discussions between the Euro-pean Commission and the de-partment of commerce over the safe harbor framework, which predates the snowden issues. Naturally, there were questions raised post snowden about this framework continuing, but both sides are working together to move forward from this. It has been a distraction, but ultimate-ly it won’t be a killer issue.”

Those in attendance un-doubtedly learned a great deal about the developing TTIP agreement and the accompa-nying concerns and promises of this new deal. Armed with this information, it is the hope of MEUCE that the attendees, upon returning to their commu-nities and places of employ-ment continue to share, and disseminate this information. In the meantime, we at the MEUCE will continue to do so ourselves.

The Future of the EU-US Relations

What Benefits will TTIP Bring? (cont.)

Hiddo Houben, Minister-Counselor and Head of the Trade and Agriculture, Delegation of the

European Union to the US answering questions (left); Skip Jones , and Lake Ray, (right)

For more information on the TTIP program, please visit

the Delegation of the European Union t o t h e U S w e b s i t e : h t t p : / /www.euintheus.org/transatlantic-trade-and-investment-partnership-ttip/

For other events pertaining to the Euro-pean Union, please visit our w e b s i t e a t h t t p : / /

miamieuc.fiu.edu/, Mia

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The Future of the EU-US Relations

What Benefits will the TTIP Bring?

Stefanie Jehlitschka, Vice President, German American Chamber

of Commerce of the Southern United States, Inc.

From left to right, panelists and moderator: Hiddo Houben, Skip

Jones, Lake Ray, Christoph Niemann, and Stefanie Jehlitschka

Hiddo Houben, Minister-Counselor and Head of the Trade and Agriculture,

Delegation of the European Union to the US (left); and Hon. Jürgen

Borsch, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Miami

From left to right: Lake Ray, Florida House of Representatives, District 12;

Hon. Philippe Létrilliart, Consul General of France in Miami;

Brian Siegal, Director of AJC Global Jewish Advocacy

From left to right, among the audience: Dr. Volker Anding, Amb. of Germany

(ret.); Javier Pagalday, Deputy Consul General of Spain in Miami; Hon. Jürgen

Borsch, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Miami

Hiddo Houben, Minister-Counselor and Head of the Trade and Agricul-

ture, Delegation of the European Union to the US (center), with Italian-

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September 2014

Monday, Sept. 8 │ 2:15 pm - 3:45 pm

FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150

MEUCE European Film Series on WWI

(French Documentary)

“Apocalypse—The World War I” - Episode 1: “Fury”

Monday, Sept. 15 │ 1:45 pm - 3:45pm FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150

European Film Series — (French film)

“L’Auberge Espagnole”

Tuesday, Sept. 16 | 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU, 301 Washington Ave.,

Miami Beach

MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture

“Scandinavia during the Holocaust Years” ● Dr. Cami Hofstadter, Former Honorary Consul of Finland

in South Florida

Saturday, Sept. 20 | 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm New World Symphony— 500 17th Street—Miami Beach

Featuring World War I Music, Poetry and Panel Discussion

“World War I: A Century Later—Origins and Legacy”

KEYNOTE SPEAKER ● Dr. Michael Neiberg, Professor of History, Army War

College, Carlisle, Pa. Author, Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of

World War I

PANELISTS ● Dr. Dominique K. Reill, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, UM

● Dr. Jessica Adler, Assistant Professor, Dept. of History

and Health & Policy Management, FIU ● Dr. Michael Miller, Professor, Dept. of History, UM

Tuesday, Sept. 23 | 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm FIU, MMC - Green Library—Resources Center—GL 156

MEUCE Videoconference with the Univ.

of Pittsburgh Conversations on Europe

“The Scottish Referendum: Results & Implications”

Tuesday, Sept. 23 | 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150

European Film Series on WWI— (French Film)

“Joyeux Noël” (Organized by Le Cercle Français/

Pi Delta Phi/Modern Languages Dept.)

Thursday, Sept. 25 | 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150

Polish Lecture Series: Polish Documentary

The August Sky: 3 Days of Glory ” (1-2 p.m.) + Lecture on “Warsaw '44: A Legacy of Sacrifice” (2-3 p.m.)

● Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz, holder of the Kosciuszko Chair

at the Institute of World Politics

Thursday, Sept. 25 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm The Bookstore at the Grove, 3390 Mary St

Miami, FL 33133

MEUCE/Vaclav Havel Book Presentation

“Beyond Conflict: The Project on Justice in Times

of Transition"

● Dr. Timothy Phillips, Co-founder of the organization

Beyond Conflict

October 2014 Tuesday, Sept. 30 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 140

MEUCE European Film Series on WWI

(French Documentary) “Apocalypse—The World War I”

Episodes 2 & 3: “Fear” & “Hell”

Friday, Oct. 3│2:00 pm - 3:30 pm FIU, MMC - Green Library— Resources Center—GL 835 MEUCE Videoconference with the University of Pittsburgh

Conversations on Europe

“25 Years of the Berlin Republic”

Tuesday, Oct. 7 | 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 140 MEUCE Lecture

“25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall”

● Hon. Jürgen Borsch, Consul General of Germany

Thursday, Oct. 9│12:30 pm - 1:30 pm FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150 European Film /Documentary Series “Discover Europe”

“Europe Seen from the Sky” filmed by

Sylvain Augier

Thursday, Oct. 9 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC - SIPA—SIPA Café

MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture “WWI Commemoration: One Hundred Years After -

A Panel Discussion with Faculty”

● Michael Brillman, History Department

“The Great War in Historical Perspective” ● Gwyn Davies, History Department

“Military Strategies and War”

● April Merleaux, History Department “Food and War”

● Jon Mogul, the Wolfsonian-FIU

“War in Art and Propaganda” Moderator: Rebecca Friedman, European Studies/History

Friday, Oct. 10 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC - College of Law—Courtroom 1000

MEUCE/College of Law Roundtable

“The Death Penalty: European Union and

International Perspectives” ● Panel discussion with European Consuls General in Miami,

FIU Faculty Experts, and Reprieve Organization

Wednesday, Oct. 15 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 243

MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture / Book Presentation

“Celebrating 10 Years in the EU: Poland and the Czech

Republic: Conversations between Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik”

● Dr. Adam Michnik, Polish Historian ● Dr. Elzvieta Matynia, Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies,

New School for Social Research, NY

Thursday, Oct. 16 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm FIU, MMC– College of Business Complex-CBC 155

MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture / Film Series on WWI

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

Fall Semester 2014 MEUCE Activities

September—October

S E P T - O C T 2 0 1 4 P A G E 2 0

October 2014

Friday, Oct. 17 | 1:00 pm– 5:00 pm

FIU, MMC - Green Library—GL 835 MEUCE Euro Challenge HS Teacher Orientation

Monday, Oct. 20 | 12:30 pm– 3:30 pm

FIU, MMC - Graham Center—GC 150 European Film/Documentary Series + Panel Discussion

“Discover Italy: “Italia Opera Unica”

Tuesday, Oct. 21│12:00 pm - 1:30 pm FIU, MMC - Green Library—GL 156 MEUCE Videoconference with the Univ. of Pittsburgh

Conversations on Europe

“1914 Revisited? The EU-US-Russian Triangle”

Thursday, Oct. 23 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm FIU, MMC -College Business Complex—CBC 232 MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture / Film Series on WWI

“Gallipoli”

Tuesday, Oct. 28 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC-Green Library—GL 220 Panel Discussion

“FIU Students’ Experience in France: What they learned”

Guest of Honor: Hon. Philippe Létrilliart,

Consul General of France in Miami

Wed, Oct. 29 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 140 MEUCE European Film Series on WWI

(French Documentary)

“Apocalypse—The World War I” Episodes 4 & 5: “Rage” & “Deliverance”

Thursday, Oct. 30 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm FIU, MMC-College Business Complex—CBC 155 MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture / Film Series on WWI

“Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World”

(PBS Documentary)

November 2014

Wednesday, Nov. 5 | 9:00 am – 10:00 am FIU, MMC-MARC International Pavilion MEUCE Lecture

His Excellency Gérard Araud, Ambassador of France

to the United States

November 2014

Thursday, Nov. 6 | 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm FIU, MMC-College Business Complex—CBC 155 MEUCE/Broad Series Lecture / Film Series on WWI

“Paths of Glory”

Nov. 11, 2014 - April 5, 2015 The Wolfsonian-FIU—1001 Washington Avenue - Miami Beach Exhibition on WWI

“Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture”

Wednesday, Nov. 12 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 140 MEUCE Roundtable

“10 Year Anniversary/Reflection on the big-bang

enlargement to CEE”

● Dr. Roger E. Kanet, Professor, International Studies, UM ● Dr. Tatiana Kostadinova, Associate Professor,

Politics & International Relations, FIU

● Dr. Markus Thiel, Assistant Professor,

Politics & International Relations, FIU

Monday, Nov. 17 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 243 International Week: “Discover Europe”

+ Panel discussion on “FIU Students’ Experience in Europe:

What they learned”

Tuesday, Nov. 18 | 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm FIU, MMC—Green Library—Resources Center—GL 156 MEUCE Videoconference with the Univ. of Pittsburgh

Conversations on Europe

“Displaced: The Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean

Basin”

Friday, Nov. 21| 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 150 European Film /Documentary Series

“Discover Europe”

December 2014

Wednesday, Dec. 3 | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 140 MEUCE European Film Series on WWI—Documentary

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”, a vision of

the 1st World War by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez + presentation of the film by Spanish Producer Enrique Viciano (TBC)

Monday, Dec. 8 | 8:30 am – 2:30 pm FIU, MMC—Graham Center—GC 243 MEUCE Euro Challenge HS Student Orientation

Fall Semester 2014 MEUCE Activities

October—November—December

P A G E 2 1 S E P T – O C T 2 0 1 4

The Caribbean Renewable En-ergy Forum (CREF) will take place in Miami October 6-8, 2014 at the JW Marriott Marquis.

The conference is aimed at bridg-ing the Caribbean Renewables sector with world class technology and investors.

For more information: http://www.caribbeanenergyforum.com/

Oct. 6 - 8, 2014 | 8:15 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Venue: JW Marriott Marquis

255 Biscayne Blvd Way Miami, FL 33131

As prospects for utility scale and

distributed generation continue to emerge region-wide, join govern-ments, utilities, multilaterals, de-velopers and financiers at CREF 2014 for two days of intense net-working, transacting, discussion and debate.

The Delegation of the European

Union to Barbados and the East-ern Caribbean is one of the spon-sors of this event.

Ambassador Mikael Barfod, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, will present the EU's policies and activities in this area.

For more information on the pro-

gram, click here

The Caribbean

Renewable Energy

Forum 2014

Miami—Oct. 6-8, 2014

You're invited to join us at valua-ble (and FREE) workshop: “Destination Europe: Your Re-search & Innovation Opportuni-ties, ”

Oct. 17, 2014 | 8:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.

Venue: Georgia Tech Global Learning Center

84 5th Street NW Atlanta, GA 30308-1031

Benefits and goals of the work-shop include:

Discover the vibrant and exciting

research and innovation culture in Europe and the opportunities available to researchers, from anywhere in the world, interested in working there or cooperating with European researchers

Meet Experts from European re-

search organizations, universities, funding agencies and European Commission services who will present programs, initiatives and opportunities to cooperate or to pursue a career in Research and Innovation in Europe

Information about the help available

for the practicalities of moving to Europe (scientific visa, mobility centres etc.)

► To view detailed program, click here

► To register, click here ► There is no charge for participa-tion, but prior registration is Required Destination Europe is a joint initiative of the European Union and its Member States

BILAT Announcement

Workshop: Destination Europe:

Your Research & Innovation Opportunities

Atlanta, GA—October 17, 2014

Ambassador Mikael Barfod

Head of the Delegation of the European Union to

Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean

S E P T - O C T 2 0 1 3 P A G E 2 2

Florida International University Modesto A. Maidique Campus 11200 SW 8th Street, SIPA 508 Miami, FL 33199

Dr. Rebecca Friedman

Co-Director, MEUCE E-mail: friedmar@fiu.edu

Christine I. Caly-Sanchez

Associate Director, MEUCE Phone: (305) 348-5949 Fax: (305) 348-6562 E-mail: calyc@fiu.edu Web: miamieuc.fiu.edu

University of Miami 1300 Campo Sano Building, #220C Coral Gables, FL 33146-3010

Dr. Joaquín Roy

Co-Director, MEUCE E-mail: jroy@miami.edu

Astrid Boening Research Associate, MEUCE E-mail: astridboening1@aol.com Phone: (305) 284-3266 Fax: (305) 284-4406 Web: http://www.as.miami.edu/

Euro Challenge Competition 2015

High school teachers

and students are invit-

ed to participate in the

seventh annual Euro

Challenge competition.

The Miami-Florida Eu-

ropean Union Center

of Excellence

(MEUCE) has once

again invited teachers

and students from fif-

teen different high-schools to participate and learn about Euro-

pean history, currency, and economy for a chance to win not

only cash prizes, but also a trip to New York City and Wash-

ington, DC. This years student orientation will be held on De-

cember 8, 2014. Will be covered: “Competition Overview",

"From Europe to the Euro", "The Euro Crisis: An Update”, and

"Key economic concepts." The selected students will then

compete in Miami on March 12, 2015, and in New-York on

April 30, 2015.

2 0 1 5

Winner 2014: Trinity Preparatory School

NY, April 30, 2014

Mia

mi-

Flo

rid

a E

uro

pe

an

Un

ion

Ce

nte

r o

f E

xc

ell

en

ce

Contact the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence

For details please visit: www.euro-challenge.org/wordpress/

or contact Associate Director Christine I. Caly-Sanchez at MEUCE, FIU — calyc@fiu.edu

Winner 2014: Nova High School

NY, April 30, 2014